News and Highlights

Good things happen when microbes meet soy

18 Aug 2025

Fermented foods such as yoghurt, kimchi and kombucha are often celebrated for their digestive and health benefits. But what is it about fermentation that gives these foods their supposedly healthy edge? How do their nutrients differ before and after?

Gunaratne and colleagues—including Jia Yee Wu, formerly of A*STAR SIFBI and now at A*STAR IMCB, and A*STAR Senior Adviser Christiani Jeyakumar Henry—used advanced proteomics and peptidomics tools to study how soybean proteins are broken down by Rhizopus and other microbes during tempeh production. They analysed the mix of peptides—chains of amino acids—released as such proteins are digested by microbial enzymes. 

To the heart of fasting benefits

9 Jul 2024

A study in mice has shown that intermittent fasting can improve heart health by altering key molecular and cellular pathways.

Using quantitative mass spectrometry, the researchers tracked heart proteins during fasting periods of 12-16 hours and every other day fasting, and compared them to mice with unrestricted access to food. They also used RNA sequencing to identify any subtle changes in gene expression. A comprehensive analysis of the data revealed which proteins and genes were most affected by the fasting regimens. 

A novel therapeutic target to advance the treatment of diabetic eye diseases

21 Dec 2022 

A local study discovered a novel therapeutic target named ADAM10 that could be used to treat patients with Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), a condition which leads to blindness induced by prolonged diabetes. Abnormal blood vessel formation in the eyes of diabetic patients is a common phenomenon for DR which could ultimately result in vision loss. The study, published in the journal Theranostics, demonstrated that by restoring the function of ADAM10, a major shedding protein, it was possible in preclinical models to control the abnormal formation of blood vessels, offering an attractive therapeutic target to treat DR.

Shedding light on diabetic blindness

9 Oct 2023

The discovery of an enzyme that prevents the formation of abnormal blood vessels may enable clinical strategies to manage diabetes-associated blindness.

One test to determine them all

14 Jun 2019

A*STAR researchers have devised a method that can detect and distinguish closely related flaviviruses with 100 percent accuracy.

Seeking to improve flavivirus identification, Gunaratne and his team at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), in collaboration with the National Environment Agency’s Environmental Health Institute and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, developed a proteomic mass spectrometry (MS)-based assay that can simultaneously detect all seven of the above-mentioned flaviviruses, with high sensitivity and specificity.

Proteomic Test to Diagnose, Differentiate Zika, Dengue Developed by A*STAR Team

20 Mar 2019

NEW YORK (360Dx) – Researchers from  Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) have reported a new mass spectrometry-based diagnostic assay that they said can detect and differentiate multiple flaviviruses, including Zika and dengue. 

What's more, senior author Jayantha Gunaratne of A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology told 360Dx that the assay "offers many advantages over other diagnostics, including the ability to diagnose and determine multiple flavivirus types over a longer diagnostic window.“